A street trader who sold costume jewellery in the Milk Markets area of Limerick each Saturday for the past seven years has failed to get a High Court order quashing new bylaws introduced by Limerick Corporation to control casual trading.
Mr Michael Bridgeman, of Glenview, Ballyneety, Co Limerick, had claimed the bylaws of July 1998, which provide for 99 casual trading places measuring 10ft by 6ft, were incapable of accommodating the 25ft trailer from which he traded and therefore had serious implications for his ability to earn his livelihood.
Rejecting the challenge, Mr Justice Finnegan said the 1995 Casual Trading Act under which the bylaws were made provided for appeals to the District and Circuit Courts. This alternative avenue of appeal was available to Mr Bridgeman.
An appeal against the bylaws was taken to the District Court by street traders as a body but not by Mr Bridgeman in his own name.
At District Court level, the appeal was dismissed on the basis that it was out of time. An appeal to the Circuit Court against the District Court's decision was contemplated but not pursued, the judge said. Accordingly, he was refusing Mr Bridgeman's application.